It is customary to employ a bellows or diaphragm as a means for fluid displacement, especially in displacing or pumping fluids which contain solid matter or are in slurry form. In the construction of the bellows, inflatible tire casings have been employed in the past and, for example, a representative approach is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 1,554,332 to Callow wherein a bell crank is utilized to expand and contract a tire casing for the successive intake and discharge of fluid to and from the casing. Other patents of interest in this respect are U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,096,066 to Saforcada; 2,780,066 to Tarry; and 2,811,925 to Crookston, all of which disclose other representative types of diaphragm pumps.
Lift or suction pumps employed in the production of oil and gas on the other hand typically employ some form of walking beam with a bell crank at one end to reciprocate a plunger rod or piston in creating the necessary lift to recover oil. Other types of motor drives for reciprocal working members or plungers have been devised for metal working or forming operations as well as for lift pumps. To the best of my knowledge, however, no one has previously devised a satisfactory method and means of employing a series of stack or toroidal diaphragms or tire casings which will satisfactorily function as a working head and force amplifier in regulating both the force and rate of reciprocation of a plunger or piston rod and specifically in such a way as to minimize horsepower requirements and avoid the use of complex gearing, pitmans, cams and other mechanical means. The use of a toroidal diaphragm assembly of the type herein proposed has been found to offer a number of advantages over the prior art when used as a working head for a ram or plunger in regulating the amount of force, variation in length of stroke and rate of reciprocation in performing useful work.